


Healing Wounds

by RobronReunited



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: COVID-19, M/M, Reunion 3.0, Separations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 09:00:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30103518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobronReunited/pseuds/RobronReunited
Summary: An alternative ending to the lockdown for Aaron Dingle. After a rough year, will he get his happily ever after?
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Comments: 5
Kudos: 92





	Healing Wounds

Aaron awoke with a start as his alarm screeched at him. 07:30. He rubbed his eyes groggily as he tried to recall what he had been dreaming about. _Robert. It’s always Robert._ The two of them had been having a picnic behind the cricket pavilion, joking and laughing over smoked salmon and cans of lager. Aaron seriously doubted he’d ever be that happy again. He dreamt of Robert most nights, and awoke the next morning with the same feelings of hurt, anger, and despair. Sighing, he jumped out of bed and began his morning routine.

Half an hour later, Aaron was showered and dressed. He made his way downstairs, almost tripping over a pair of Liv’s trainers as he did so. The house was littered in Liv and Vinny’s belongings, the same way his and Robert’s used to be. Looking at the place, you would hardly know Aaron still lived there. As soon as Aaron returned from work, he would usually lock himself in his room, unless he wanted to hear the sounds of Liv and Vinny being loved up in the living room. These days, he preferred the isolation, seeing as most people expected him to have moved on from Robert by now. But how could he? Robert was his soulmate. He knew he’d never find anyone he loved half as much as Robert, so why bother pretending?

Of course, people had tried. Liv had tried to set him up with Ben, but Aaron just didn’t feel a spark. The string of lads he’d slept with after Robert was sentenced meant less than nothing to him. His mum and Paddy had tried to convince him to get over Robert, but is was easier said than done. He didn’t want to get over Robert. He wanted his life back with Robert.

Things were bad enough before the Covid-19 pandemic hit and Emmerdale, like the rest of the country, was forced into lockdown. No work to distract him, no going to the pub, nothing. Being stuck with his own thoughts all day meant he was always dwelling on his past with Robert, and his future without him. Fourteen years. In lockdown, Aaron had all sorts of ideas to be reunited with Robert.

_I’ll get arrested and sent to prison. I’ll be with him. I’ll move to the Isle of Wight, to be near him, and then maybe he’ll see me. I’ll break him out, and we’ll go on the run. I’ll wait for him, I’ll wait fourteen years for him._

In the end, though, Aaron couldn’t bring himself to do any of those things. Robert had made it clear that he wanted Aaron to move on, to live the life Robert couldn’t. Aaron just needed to figure out how to live without him.

Aaron was walking home for lunch after a pretty boring morning at the scrapyard. After a frosty few weeks, the start of March brought a hint of spring and with it, a beacon of hope: the government announced that, by the end of June, most Covid-19 restrictions should be lifted, and Emmerdale along with the rest of the country could return to some form of normality.

“Just think, we could book a holiday for summer!” Liv had exclaimed the night of the announcement, celebrating the news gleefully. “Where do you wanna go, Spain, maybe Portugal?”

Aaron had smiled at his not-so-little sister. “Steady on, they’ve only just announced it, nothing’s confirmed yet! And where are we getting the money from for a holiday?” he asked. The scrapyard was not making as much money as it used to, being hit along with every other business due to the pandemic.

“Don’t you have any savings? You know? From before?” Liv had asked tentatively. Aaron had known she avoided saying Robert’s name if she could avoid it.

Aaron felt a pang of guilt. He and Robert had saved some money towards getting a surrogate, but that was never going to happen now. The money had just been sat there, with Aaron unable to even contemplate spending it.

“Yeah, we’ll see” Aaron had grunted in a non-committing tone. Liv had hastily dropped the subject.

As Aaron recalled this conversation, wondering whether he should spend any of his and Robert’s savings, he quite literally bumped into someone.

“Oh, sorry ma-“ Aaron started, before realising he had ran into Luke Posner. Part of the family who destroyed his future with Robert. Suddenly he was rather glad he had almost knocked Luke to the floor.

“It’s fine” mumbled Luke as he sped off, barely giving Aaron a second glance. Had he been crying?

As Aaron brushed off the short encounter, he saw Vic at the bottom of the street racing up towards him.

“Aaron! Have you seen Luke?” Vic asked, looking somewhat distressed. She too, looked like she had been crying, eyes puffy and mascara all messed up.

“Uh, he went that way, you alright Vic?” Aaron asked. If Luke had upset her, if that family had doused her even more grief, Aaron would seethe.

“No, I mean yeah. I’m fine, it’s-“ Vic paused. She looked like she really wanted to say something, but thought the better of it. “It’s nothing, thanks Aaron!”. With that, she sped off in pursuit of Luke.

Shaking his head, Aaron made his way to the Mill, thinking of making himself a bacon sandwich smothered in ketchup. Why not?

As soon as he set foot in the door, Liv was on him. She too, looked rather upset, although no tears this time.

“Where’s your bloody phone?” she demanded.

“Uh…” Aaron checked his pockets. “Must have left it at the cabin, why? What’s happened?” 

Liv bit her lip as she looked into Aaron’s eyes woefully.

“It’s…its Seb” she said simply.

_Seb._ Robert’s little boy. The boy he’d helped raise at one point. The boy who’d been snatched from him as soon as Robert was sentenced, another loss in his life.

“What? What you on about?” Aaron asked, panic starting to set in.

Before Liv could respond, he heard movement in the kitchen. Turning his head to look, he was dumbstruck to see Ross there, with Seb on his lap.

“Ross? What? What’s going on?” Aaron asked slowly, barely believing his own eyes.

Ross sighed before responding.

“It’s Rebecca. She…she’s got Covid. It’s bad”

There was a brief silence as this news sunk in.

“How bad?” Aaron finally asked.

Ross placed Seb on the kitchen chair and walked into the living room. He sunk onto the sofa and put his head in his hands.

“Bad. She’s in a coma” he said wearily.

Aaron looked at Ross, hardly believing what he was hearing. 

“I’m sorry” Aaron said to him.

“Yeah” Ross breathed. “Look, I need to be there for her. I can’t-“ he faltered, voice breaking slightly. “I can’t look after myself, let alone the boys. I dropped Moses off with Charity. And Seb…” Ross paused.

“Will you take him? Until she’s better?”

Aaron’s heart momentarily stopped. He looked from Ross’s defeated face, to Liv’s shocked expression, finally to Seb’s little face, who was focusing on his colouring book instead of the conversation at hand.

“Of course I will”


End file.
